Martyn Rooney Professional Athlete Interview

Introduction

The following is an interview with world class athlete Martyn Rooney, who is a 400m runner.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics Martyn reached the final and finished 4th in the 4*400m relay.

He is based at Loughborough studying a foundation in Sports science and management.

1. What has been the best piece of advice you have received?

I’ve always been told to commit 100% to everything that I do; otherwise it’s not worth doing. It’s pretty simple but if you don’t put in the effort you won't gain the rewards.

2. How important is nutrition to your success and performance?

If you don’t eat properly your body isn’t going to be able to function at the highest level. It’s hard for me as ive always liked rubbish food! Chocolate and pizza are my guilty pleasures and in moderation their not terrible. But I like to use them as rewards for my efforts. At the end of the summer after the season I really like to let go and pizza, chocolate and other fast food will be my normal diet for a few weeks!

During the winter I’m able to eat quite a lot as were in such a heavy loading phase that I’m constantly burning calories. My diet will have a high portion of protein and veg with only a small portion of carbs in the evening but more during the day

3. Please could you outline your nutrition during a normal training day and then on a competition day?

Breakfast- A large bowl of Muesli with Flax seeds and extra raisins, pretty standard all year round.

Lunch- A leafy spinach salad with any kind of meat, normally either beef or chicken. Sometimes I’ll have an omelette instead of a salad. I’d normally have a yogurt and a bagel or 2 with either more meat or Peanut Butter. I’m also partial to some soups!

Dinner- Lots of salad, I don’t eat fish so mainly meat dishes i.e. Spanish Chicken, Sausage Jambalaya, Thai green chicken curry, Home made beef burgers, etc.

To be honest my diet doesn’t change too much from the start of winter training until the end of the season, just the portion sizes will shrink during the summer, and I’ll eat more sugar on race days.

4. Please could you outline what a normal day of training involves?

Normally I’m up at 8am, have breakfast and off to the track for 9.30, on a running day I normally warm up, with a little check over from the UKA physio’s before we start drills, train either on the grass or the track for 30-60mins. We do a cool down with drills and any rehab that I need to do and then back home for lunch. I’m normally at home for 1-2hrs and then back into Hipac for my second less intense session, around 2ish, such as core or drills and either a massage or any physio if needed. I’m normally done for the day at about 4 or 5pm so my day is fairly full

5. What advice would you give to anybody wanting to get fit and improve their health?

My first piece of advice is pretty basic but it’s obvious, avoiding the chip shop on the way home from work and cook a proper healthy dinner even if it is late, your body will love you for it.

Start slow when starting a new training programme, don’t dive straight into the deep end as you’ll probably pick up an injury and lose the momentum you started with to get fit in the first place. Start slow, find your level and try and improve every week, even if its only a small goal, achieving a goal is a great way to motivate yourself.

If your going to be running, get yourself a decent pair of trainers that are going to support you properly, the Nike Structure Triax+ is agreat all round shoe and should reduce the risk of injury if you’re pounding out the miles. I see so many people wearing fashion shoes jogging on the roads and I couldn’t imagine how bad it is for their joints.

Hydration is key, make sure in sessions you take on enough fluid, especially pre and post session, taking on sugar, protein and electrolytes will improve your recovery.

6. From your experience, for instance pre-season training, have you got any tips on how to stay motivated when the training gets tough and challenging?

I find it easy to motivate myself as I genuinely enjoy what I do, when you enjoy your job it’s easy to get out of bed for it!

Winning medals at major championships is every athletes dream, and to know I have them within my reach pushes me to push that bit harder.

7. What has been the highlight of your career?

Reaching the Olympic final in Beijing has to be the biggest highlight of my career so far, from going out in the heats the year before at the world championships it took a lot of hard work to make that final, especially when you realise how fast people were running just to make the final. It was a great achievement but it’s not going to be my defining moment as I have got a lot more to give, fingers crossed for 2012!

I would like to say a big thank you to Martyn for taking the time and effort to answer these questions and sharing some of his experiences of competing at the highest level, it is much appreciated. Please see his website at www.martynrooney.com.

Thank you for your time and feedback. It is really appreciated.

“Together, we’ll achieve your goals” Matt Swierzynski

E: matt@mattswaz.co.uk

M: 07936654876

W: www.mattswaz.co.uk